Chemours to Cut $350 Million in Costs

Chemours Co., the performance-chemicals company spun off from DuPont Co. in July, said Thursday that it will cut $350 million in costs by 2017 and review options for its chemical solutions business.

Chemours also said it had swung to a loss in the second quarter as sales fell 10%.

Chemours's products are used in things like plastics, coatings and air conditioning. Its brands include Teflon, Ti-Pure and Krytox. The company has struggled lately with weak titanium dioxide pricing and currency headwinds.

Chemours said its previously announced restructuring moves will cut $40 million in costs in the second half of the year. By 2017, the company is aiming for $350 million in cost cuts on further corporate and manufacturing efficiency moves.

Chemours said it is also reviewing strategic alternatives for its chemical solutions business, excluding the cyanide business, which it plans to grow by 50%.

For the quarter ended June 30, chemical solutions sales fell 6% to $278 million.

Titanium segment sales fell 18% to $642 million due to lower prices and currency impacts. Fluoroproducts sales fell 2% to $588 million.

In all, the company reported a loss of $18 million, or 10 cents a share, compared with prior-year profit of $116 million, or 64 cents a share.

The quarter's results were hurt by $61 million in restructuring costs and interest expense of $28 million.

Sales fell to $1.51 billion from $1.68 billion a year earlier.

Shares of Chemours, inactive premarket, have fallen 41% in the last month, closing at $9.47 a share on Wednesday.

Write to Chelsey Dulaney at [e-mail]

Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires